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Physical Description: Tall,
athletic frame with some projection, especially in his upper
body. Looks the part.
Mechanics: Throws
from a high three-quarters arm slot from the first base side.
Does not use a wind-up and utilizes a medium leg kick. Short arm
action. Arm will drag behind delivery at times. Some effort in
delivery, and is currently working to repeat it and find a
consistent release point. Has some deception due to
the crossfire action in his delivery.
Fastball:
89-92 mph. Tops out at 93 mph. Command and control are works in
progress. Still working to regain feel for the pitch and find a
consistent release point. Constantly misses up and to the arm
side. Will show cut on occasion when he misses glove-side. Has
shown he can reach back for the higher end of the velocity band
when needed. Unclear if he can regain his pre-service velocity,
but we will have a better idea of where he stands after he has a
baseball-focused offseason. Potential below-average offering.
Slider: 80-84 mph. Pitch with which he
is most comfortable right now. Has solid feel and is able to
land it in the strike zone or down and out when ahead in the
count. Will add and subtract velocity and vary shape. When
thrown slower, it tends to look more like a sweeper with long,
horizontal break. At higher velocities, pitch is shorter with more
vertical break. Potential average offering.
Changeup: 80-83 mph. Good arm speed. Will flash
vertical drop, but is still working to regain feel. Rarely
thrown in outings scouted since his return. Potential
below-average offering.
Curveball: 72-74 mph.
12-to-6 offering with long, vertical break. Decent feel for
spin, but primarily used early in counts to steal a strike.
Potential fringe-average offering.
Pre-Military
Service Scouting Report: Prior to three-year absence,
showed the potential to develop into a number three or four
starter and was one of the system’s top pitching prospects but
for the uncertainty regarding his service commitment, which bore
out to a large degree. Showed strong pitchability, already
possessing the makings of a four-pitch mix with three showing
above-average potential. Fastball sat 93-96 mph. Topped out at
99 mph. Strong command profile. Threw a lot of quality strikes.
Showed the ability to spot both arm-side and up in the zone.
Pitch showed life and jumped on hitters with the ability to miss
bats. Potential plus-to-better offering. Slider sat 84-86 mph
with 10-to-4 shape. Showed bite and bat-missing potential when
he got over it, but did not do so consistently, sometimes
getting on the side of it and leaving it flat and up in the
zone. Potential above-average offering. Changeup sat 83-85 mph,
thrown with deceptive arm speed. Could pull the string with late
fade at its best, but was inconsistent at times as his feel came
and went. Threw a fringe-average, show-me changeup in college,
but pitch was already vastly improved. Potential above-average
offering. Curveball was a 74-78 mph work in progress with long,
11-to-5 shape. Was more of a spinner, but had the potential to
continue to improve. Fringe-average offering. |
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Career Notes: Was regarded as a potential
late-first/early-second-round talent if not for his service
requirement as a pending graduate of the Naval Academy. Red Sox
drafted him anyway and signed him to a well-below-slot bonus.
Following his graduation and being commissioned as an officer,
played for Lowell while on temporary assignment duty. Impressed
in Lowell, looking like a potential steal if he could gain a
waiver from his military commitment. Returned to the Naval
Academy for a month before pitching in relief for Team USA
during the 2019 Premier12 Tournament, where he was considered by
some to be the most impressive pitcher on a talented, generally
much older squad. Submitted a waiver request to transfer his
service commitment to the Navy Reserve in October 2019, but the
Chief Naval Officer at the Academy did not endorse his request
because Song had graduated during a short window during which
the Department of Defense had ended its program allowing
graduates of the service academies to delay or alter their
service commitments in order to pursue careers in professional
sports. After several months in limbo (perhaps due in part to
the application being made during a period of numerous unrelated
leadership changes and incidents at the Departments of Defense
and the Navy), Song altered his request in April 2020 and
requested to begin flight school, and was ordered to report to
flight school in June 2020. Song graduated from flight school at
the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade and received his wings as a
Naval Flight Officer on April 28, 2022, after which he submitted
another service waiver request. Was selected in the December
2022 Rule 5 Draft by Philadelphia while his waiver request was
pending before the Secretary of the Navy, during which time he
had begun a new training block at the Naval Air Station in
Jacksonville, and was placed on the military list pending a
decision on his waiver. Finally received a waiver to transfer to
reserve duty in February 2023 and reported to camp with
Philadelphia. After immediately throwing from a mound after
reporting, suffered a back strain shortly thereafter and spent
three months on the 60-day injured list before beginning a rehab
assignment the last week of June. Made eight rehab appearances
between High-A and Triple-A before the Phillies, in playoff
contention, sent Song back to the Red Sox on August 4, after
which he was assigned to Greenville and stretched back out as a
starter.
Summation: Hard player to
evaluate because of the significant difference between what he
is right now and what he showed prior to his military service.
We will have a better idea of where he stands after the 2023-24
offseason, during which he can focus on baseball and better
prepare for the season after getting a late start due to the
timing of his waiver in February 2023. With the stuff he
currently possesses, he looks like a minor league depth arm, but the
priority is getting him innings and reacclimated to being a
professional baseball player, so that projection is very fluid
and could change when we see what his stuff looks like next
year. Outstanding makeup, strong work ethic. Type of person
every organization strives to have.
Links
State of the System: Low Minors Pitchers (4.2.20)
Scouting Report Update (8.12.2020) |
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